The Twenty Virtues Book 1- The Twenty Generals

16- Battle of Personas.

"Did I say something I shouldn't have?" Emily questioned, Elaine's expression still vacant, devoid of emotion, but there was anger in her voice.

"Am I the fake? Do you have a problem? I am the original, and these are my pets. How can I not be the real one?"

"No. That is the persona you were forced to create for the cameras. The real Elaine is divided among the six around you."

"This is ridiculous. I thought you were my fan, and now you tell me I'm fake."

"Actually, from what I can see, it's better that I'm not a fan, right? After all, that would mean I would love the one who is not you."

"SHUT UP!" Elaine screamed. In response, all the horns, except for the Green one, started spinning like drills. They spun and spun. The general threw herself against the ground and began to dig tunnels beneath the earth. Emily quickly reacted and dashed deeper into the forest, analyzing the surroundings—trees, soil—she already knew what she wanted, just searching for it.

The Elaines followed her underground, frequently emerging. The Red one advanced with the most brutality, aiming to destroy everything in its path. The Blue one couldn't attack directly; its attacks were somewhat random, as if it couldn't focus on the battle. The Yellow one, along with the original Elaine, attacked without a specific pattern, just emerging and coming. The Purple one attacked suddenly and retreated, there was a certain randomness, but unlike the Blue one, it was not its advances that were random, but its exits.

The most dangerous was the Orange one, analytical and careful. This Elaine only emerged at precise moments when she knew Emily was off guard. While some attacks inevitably grazed Emily, they never hit as the girl could keep up well. With her intelligence, the young child carefully analyzed the pattern and had a slight idea of where the attacks would come from. But the Elaines laughed as they went back into the earth like mocking moles, laughing at the girl's wounds that, though small, burned and could easily be fatal.

"What immense destructive power," Emily thought aloud, as her back throbbed. "If someone judged by appearance alone, they would think that the horn on her head is just a silly unicorn ornament, but it's more than that. Her horn is a weapon with completely destructive power; the fine tip can pierce anything, and the rotation only makes the hole bigger and deeper. If I don't find what I'm looking for soon, I won't last much longer."

Emily continued running while dodging the General's attacks, keeping her attention on her surroundings, every plant, flora, analyzing their colors. A thought, so complex and vast, filled her mind in minutes. The flood of information made the girl stop running for a moment and put her hands on her head; it was too much for her to process.

"Headache, dear?" murmured some Elaine that Emily couldn't tell which. The Purple one then emerged and tore the girl's right arm. Emily screamed feeling the blood, but within seconds, the pain passed as her mind reasoned and got accustomed to it. As soon as Emily managed to catch up with her mental explosion, the child jumped into one of the holes made by the General, surprising Elaine.

"Planning to make me chase you and end up attacking my copies due to the narrow space? That won't work." Emily used her incredible deduction to choose her path, descending through the holes more and more until the Blue one emerged spinning from the tunnel in front of Emily while the Yellow one came up from behind. The young girl was expecting this and entered a tunnel to her left. The Elaines were about to collide, but the Yellow one dug down while the Blue one went straight. Elaine's voice echoed through the tunnels, "Each copy knows the location of the others. I said it won't work."

The Elaines hunted Emily through the tunnels like a cat after a mouse, but the child's brain was always nine steps ahead. The girl had already deduced how each Elaine's mind worked and which path they would take. Soon, she had a 3D map of the tunnels implanted in her mind. Her head throbbed with the amount of information she was receiving; she felt like it would burst at any moment. But now was a time she couldn't hesitate. The Elaines never managed to corner her as every time they thought they had trapped her, she escaped through a new route. All of them descended deeper and deeper into the underground.